It’s the first time the Panthers have been shut out in consecutive games since the 2006-07 season when they were blanked in three straight games on the road by Atlanta, Montreal and Ottawa from Nov. 25-30.

“I thought we had a much better effort tonight than we did [last night] against the Rangers, and I actually thought we played better against Chicago tonight than the game we beat them 1-0, or 2-1 at home (wrong 3-2). We played hard tonight, they’re a very good team, they’re very deep, and you’re not going to win any games in this league unless you can score a goal. I understand [Tomas Vokoun’s] frustration, I think guys are trying, I think the effort is there. When your margin of error is zero going into games, and you haven’t scored in two games, guys are going to push to try and get a goal and they’re going to be out of position. I understand Tomas’ frustration, he’s given us two outstanding games here back-to-back, and he wants to win, but I would disagree that it’s a selfish thing. I think guys are competing here, but our margin of error is very small.”

Panthers forward Jack Skille:

“The last couple of games have been better, I’ve had more chances, but obviously this is a team game though and we’ve got to find a way to get out of this losing streak. It was really awkward [returning to Chicago], to be honest, out there on the other side of things. A lot of good fans out there though, I saw a couple signs with my name on it, so that was nice. Really awkward and nerve-racking at the start, but I kind of got the hang of it as the game went on. I was wondering how [the fans] were going to react to me being on the other side of things, but it shows a lot of class on their part and I commend them for that.”

Florida Panthers goaltender Tomas Vokoun:

“We can’t give a talented team like Chicago too many chances. They beat us with odd-man rushes, especially with the likes of [Patrick] Kane and [Jonathan] Toews. This is a tough building to come into and they just outgunned us.”

Comments (19 Comments)

This outcome was to be expected. There was no way Florida had a shot of beating a hot Stanley Cup champion in their own building after catching them asleep the last game they played together at the BAC. Regardless, this is a meaningless loss. If anything, it helps the Panthers more than hurts them. It also gives Tallon that extra punch in the gut he needs to realize how badly this team needs scoring.

DeBoer really sounds like a broken record now. It almost has become comical. They should make a doll of his likeness so when you the pull the string it says classic DeBoer phrases like:

“I thought we did some things well”
“I thought we had a much better effort tonight”
“The margin for error is very slim”
“You’re not going to win games unless you score a goal”

Does anyone still want to debate whether Skille’s value is even close to what Frolik is worth? That passing play on the goal late in the game by Kopecky is an example of the kind of play that a skill player can make when he has similarly talented people to play with. Skille isn’t likely to make that play. I still think Frolik was worth far more than they got in return. If you count the Grabner move as the first blemish on Tallon’s record here, then you have to count trading Frolik for Skille as blemish #2.

As a loyal Florida Panther fan, for the rest of this season I am rooting for Colorado to win the rest of their games. Number four is good but number three is even better.

At this point in the season, if I were coaching the Panthers and had anyone who could score a goal I would not play them.

And if I were a player on this team, I would be perfecting my defensive skills knowing that if I had any future in this organization, it would be as a role player only, or possibly trade bait that would send me to a better team. Don’t get me wrong, the best teams have their role players, and the Panthers for the past ten years have made trading players who did better after they left Florida a cottage industry.

Very few of the current players will be on this team (if any at all), when the Panthers finally reach the status of an elite team, and I say to these current players “It’s nothing personal, it’s just business”.

No debate WAM. It was another lopsided trade in a series of never ending lopsided trades this franchise has executed since the Cohen regime bought the team. Tallon is just putting the cherry on top.

It also is pretty sobering when Florida’s only real NHL caliber center (ie. Weiss) is out and the team cannot score a goal for two straight games. Don’t get me wrong, I like that this is happening now when Florida needs more losses. But this is a bad harbinger of what’s to come next season if Tallon doesn’t find some scoring help quick this offseason. The Blackhawks absolutely man-handled Florida. With all those odd man rushes it was like watching a college team play an NHL team. Ouch.

Speaking of lopsided trades, I was watching NHL Overtime on Versus last night and Keenan was the guest analyst and of course they had to discuss Luongo’s outstanding performance against Detroit earlier that night. Keenan had no choice but to laud Luongo for being one of the best goalies and his outstanding play against Detroit. Watching him (and the wry smile he had the entire time) you just know that he was waiting for the a mention of the idiotic trade (widely considered one of the worst in NHL history) he made year ago and the negative comments he’s publicly made about Luongo in the ensuing years. Lucky for him it was only him and the main guy anchoring the desk that were on the air, cause if any other “analyst” were there you can bet that the subject would have come up.

Florida is going to stink as a team until they have a solid minor league system. I, for one expect this.

In two to three years from now, once the minor league system is finally fixed, they will start a season and people will be shouting “.WOW, where did this team come from!”

As far as what Pee Wee had to say on Versus, who really cares anyway. He was a rotten G.M. and only a slightly better coach (which isn’t saying anything much), and he has been run out of town everywhere that he’s been.

Buck up people, it’s going to be awhile before we have a team that we can brag about.

As for me, I am sick and tired of short term solutions that will get us to become “one and out” in the playoffs for the next ten years (see NY Rangers – 1980’s). None of these previous G.M.’s since Mr. Clarke operated here, cared much about long term franchise solutions (and sometimes I get the feeling that some of the posters here do not as well).

Same story take Weiss out of the line-up and the team has zero chance of winning. Samsonov & Bergfors have shown Weiss makes them look good. Without Weiss, Samsonov & Bergfors were almost invisible. I saw one chance for Samsonov. For the most part Samsonov & Bergfors looked good since coming at the trade deadline, now we know why, they benefited from playing with Weiss. Take Weiss off the team and zero goals. No one to score, no one to be the set-up man. Weiss is really missed. That said keep him off the rest of the year and we can get a top lottery pick because the team has little chance of winning with Weiss not in the line-up.

Or course Weiss is missed. He is a solid center – excellent playmaker and very good two-way player. That he’d be a #2 guy on a top tier team is actually a compliment and not a knock on him. #2 centers are extremely valuable and are often guys who have to play a solid two-way game and have good playmaking skills, largely because they are generally asked to play more of a defensive role than a #1 center. That’s why it would have been foolish to trade Weiss.

DeBoer could have used Frolik, Grabner, and Horton this season..if we had them we very well could have been in the playoffs..
As far as this team re building. They make very few steps forward, and too many backward..This team may never make the playoffs. Tallon has already made at least two poor moves with Frolik, and Grabner..You may not like Frolik but Skille is nothing
I suggest that the pie in the sky fans wait and see if the pie is real, or just smoke and mirrors..
So far all I see is blank BluePrints that are BlurPrints and the same old promises of the future..
Lets be real people..

Let’s just say it, this team has been offensively challenged for ten years now. It is now glowingly apparent that we only have one decent center. I expect major changes in the offseason.

I feel bad for Matthias, if he could just finish he would be a good third line NHL player. I have lost count on how many times that he has been sitting at the net and watching a puck roll past him. Is he trying to hard? I wonder if it is partly the coaching team’s fault that these guys are trying to hard on offense.

1) I miss Frolik; Skille hasn’t done squat to show me he can score to be a top 6 forward.

2) I miss Horton. For all his floating, he’s a big guy who’s hard to take off the pick and can still score 20-30 goals a year. He’s a more bona fide top 6 forward than anyone on this team save Weiss and Booth. Again, although I can’t remember if the B’s pick was Howden or Bjugstad, but whichever one was the Horton trade pick better pan out.

3) Let’s keep this tank rolling! I don’t care if we don’t score another goal this season. We need one of those top picks more than we need goals right now.

Cant blame this on Vokoun.We had better re-sign him if price is right .Maybe 2 yrs at 4.0/year if he will work for that.Tyler Plante will get his head handed to him just like Salak did up here.He lasted one game.Anderson was the only replacement but Ottawa signed him for 4 yrs(they saw what we did).Better not trade Weiss either.He is proven and these top 3 picks are not.We are pathetic offensively and our scorers cant play defense.

Panthers announce Jack Skille Night!
Jack Skille will be inducted into the Panthers Den Of Honor!
Free Tickets for all Ranger Fans !!

oh sh*t,
Yackmark will probably write this down and actually do it in 2017

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About the author

HARVEY FIALKOV, a tennis-playing sportswriter who grew up in Long Island following the dynastic Islanders, is the new Panthers beat writer for the Sun Sentinel and looking forward to writing about the best professional sports team in Broward County.